jingle bell

jingle bell

English

WOTD – 25 December 2022

Etymology

A medieval jingle bell from the Grand Duchy of Ryazan, now in Russia.

Jingle bells mounted on to a handle for use as a percussion instrument.

From jingle (“sound of metal, etc., clattering against itself”, attributively) +‎ bell.[1][2]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɪŋɡl̩ bɛl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɪŋɡ(ə)l ˌbɛl/
• Hyphenation: jing‧le bell

Noun

jingle bell (plural jingle bells)

1. A small, hollow, spherical metal bell with a narrow slit opening or small holes, containing a loose ball or rod as a clapper, which is attached to a horse's harness as a signal, or (music) used as a musical instrument.

   Synonyms: cascabel, sleigh bell

   • 1857 September 15, James Lord Pierpont (lyrics and music), “The One Horse Open Sleigh”:

     Jingle bells, jingle bells, / Jingle all the way. / Oh! what fun it is to ride / In a one-horse open sleigh.

   • 1957 November 28, Joe Beal, Jim Boothe [disputed] (lyrics and music), “Jingle Bell Rock”‎, Decca Records, performed by Bobby Helms:

     Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock / Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring

Translations

small, hollow, spherical metal bell with a narrow slit opening or small holes, containing a loose ball or rod as a clapper

Arabic: جرس زلق‎ ? Aragonese: cascavillo Aymara: suxu suxu Azerbaijani: qumrov, zəng (az), zınqırov (az) Basque: kaskabilo Belarusian: шархуны (šarxuny) Catalan: cascavell (ca) m, picarol (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 馬鈴／马铃 (zh) (mǎlíng) Chuvash: xӑнкӑрма (xănk̬ărma) Czech: rolnička (cs) f Danish: bjælde (da) c Dutch: schelringen ? Esperanto: tintilo Estonian: kuljus Finnish: kulkunen (fi), tiuku (fi) French: grelot (fr) m Galician: axóuxere (gl) m, cascabel (gl) m German: Glockenstab m, Schelle (de) f Hebrew: פעמוני מזחלת‎ Japanese: スレイベル (surei beru), 鈴 (ja) (suzu) Korean: 방울 (ko) (bang'ul) Navajo: yooʼ diitsʼaʼí Persian: زنگ دستی‎ (fa) Polish: bubieniec m Portuguese: guizo (pt) m Quechua: chanrara Russian: бубенец (ru) m (bubenec) Spanish: cascabel (es) m, cascabillo (es) m Tagalog: baimbi Ukrainian: бубоне́ць (uk) ? (bubonécʹ)

References

1. Compare “jingle-bell, n.” under “jingle, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2022.
2. “jingle bell, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.

Further reading

• jingle bell on Wikipedia.Wikipedia